A Preventor and a Hearld
by Rocky Oberlin
Summary: An accident lands Quatre in another dimension. When he returns to his friends, he brings two new friends with him.


Preventor and Herald  
Rocky Oberlin  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or anything from Mercedes Lackey's series of Valdemar (Vanyel, Stefen, Yfandes, Tarma, Kethry, Warrl, Jadrek, Roald, the Companions, and other peoples). Windy is mine and so are the Heralds not mentioned in the stories. Companion Meri is not a reflection on Wufei's wife, just an idea from a character in the Last Herald-Mage Series written by Mercedes Lackey. Windy travels from one time to another. She is silent and gives aid, but is remembered by a few. If you read the stories, it was just like Windy was a silent observer, but came to help when needed.  
To give credit where credit is due I want to say that Jada and Siadea who are writing, "Return to Innocence" gave me the idea. Thank you.  
  
  
The explosion was loud, bright, and unexpected. When the other four pilots were able to see again, they found the fifth Gundam on the ground will little to no damage. Trowa and Duo raced out of their Gundams to their downed friend while Wufei muttered "Weakling" in his comm. Heero was silent as he watched the silent pilot and the loud one open the hatch to Sandrock.  
  
"Nnnooo!!"  
  
Trowa stared down into the cockpit while Duo screamed his rage to the skies.  
  
"What's going on? What happened to Quatre?" demanded Heero. The two pilots didn't answer him. Heero and Wufei brought their Gundams closer to the fallen Sandrock and joined their fellow pilots.  
  
"What has Winner allowed happen to himself now?" demanded Wufei.  
  
"Nothing," said Trowa quietly.  
  
"Then why is the braided idiot screaming?" asked the Chinese man.  
  
"Nothing's happened to him because he's gone." Two tears slipped down Trowa's face.  
  
Duo knelt next to the hatch and cried. He lost a good friend.  
  
  
"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" asked the figure in brown.  
  
"I'm sure. I have to go and you and Kethry have to work on getting your Clan going again," said the figure in white.  
  
"We could use your help," the other asked hopefully.  
  
"You just want someone else to get Warrl out of your head," teased the white figure.  
  
The brown figure grinned. "Well, that too, but you are good with the little siblings. Even the Liha'irden are impressed with how you handle the horses."  
  
The second smirked. "Practice. You try handling this beast that I call partner and see what happens." The small black horse next to her snorted and snapped at her. The woman in white ignored his attempt and looked at her Shieldsister.  
  
"I still think you should give up that tiny thing and take a battlemare. You are entitled to one after helping us get my Clan going again."  
  
"Tarma, you gave me a cull. Even that is too much, but I took it because I don't want to be rude and I was ordered to take it for some reason. Now, Black and I have to leave if I want to get to Valdemar anytime soon. Take care of yourself."  
  
"You too, Windy. And thank you. For everything."  
  
"It was fun. And take care of that brood Kethry and Jadrek will have. And don't worry about finding someone like you in the future. One of Kethry's brood will come along for you to teach. And she'll be great."  
  
Windy mounted her horse and picked up the lead rein on the Shin'a'in cull given to her. The woman and her two horses left the Dhorisha Plains. Tarma watched the figures until they disappeared between one step and the next. "Strange woman. Still, she is like me only Sword Sworn to a different God. Go well leshya'e, Windy shena Tale'sendrin. Even my Goddess says that you are a part of my Clan."  
  
  
"Well, my friend, we have a week to get to Haven. I really hope that Herald Roald won't be too surprised to see us... Yes, I plan on wearing the white Sword Sworn clothes the Liha'irden made for me... Because it will tell him I'm not a Herald, but I'm not a Sword Sworn when I reach Court. Besides, Tarma promised that he would get a set when he visited. I want him to know what he's in for... Yes, there is a reason that I wanted to approach through Sorrows. I wanted to see an old friend."  
  
The black horse shook his head and snorted. Even the memories of what had happened when they were last here still hurt his rider. It hurt him, but Windy had been close to the boy. Black shook his head again. Empaths, can't live with them, can't live without them.  
  
"You got that right, hayburner."  
  
Black bared his teeth and gave his partner a bumpy ride for an eighth of a mile.  
  
  
Quatre groaned as he started to wake up. Heero was going to kill him for taking that chance, but it was him or everyone. Quatre grimaced as he thought of Heero's answer to that particular logic. Better for the mission to be completed then to waste the chance. The blond Arabian frowned. It was better that he did do what he did. The others can help the Preventors, Quatre was just along for the ride and then he would go back to being the Winner heir again.  
  
"You're awake. Good, I was beginning to wonder if you were even alive after appearing like you did."  
  
Quatre looked up to see a young man kneeling next to him. "Who are you? Where am I?"  
  
The man smiled at him. "I'm Stefen and you're in Sorrows. From your looks and clothes, I would say that you're not from around here."  
  
"You got that right, ashke. Windy says that he's from around her dimension." Quatre was startled to see five more figures appear close to him. One was a man with silver hair and, surprisingly, silver eyes in what seemed to be a white uniform. The second was a woman in white, but her outfit was different from his. Her eyes were thankfully a dark blue and her short hair was a coppery red. The other three figures were horses, but one surprised him; how did a black Arabian horse end up here?  
  
The woman looked at him. "Ah, I see that you recognize a fellow Arabian. He's my partner, for some reason he likes to stay with me. May be because he knows that he can get in a lot of cheap shots while I'm being shot at." Stefen and the silver haired man laughed while the white horse and the Arabian whickered something suspiciously like laughter. "Well, it seems that you are the reason that I had to take the extra horse. I go by Windy, what are you called?"  
  
Quatre looked down. "My name is Quatre Raberba Winner."  
  
"Well Quatre, I'm an American, as you can probably tell from the accent. No, I'm not like Duo, I tend to be more quiet unless provoked."  
  
"How do you know about Duo?" This was not his day. First he gets bombed, wakes up in a strange place, and now a possible enemy knows about a friend of his. Things were not looking up.  
  
"God told me. I have a more direct line due to my difference in needing to breath."  
  
"Just tell him; the Lady Windy is dead, Quatre," said Stefen.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Because she told us," said the other man.  
  
"Way to be blunt, Vanyel," said Windy.  
  
"You are, so why not me?"  
  
"Because you were suppose to be the people person, Herald Vanyel Ashkevron. I am supposed to quietly help the person I was sent to then leave." The black horse snorted and neighed at Windy. "And help overthrow corrupt governments to set in place a more just one," sighed the woman.  
  
"Well, I don't think that you will be doing any more traveling," said Vanyel. "It's getting dark and the young man is looking tired. I assume that you will be taking him with you when you go to Haven, so you will have to stay the night with us."  
  
"And if I refuse?" asked Windy teasingly.  
  
"Then you won't be getting out of Sorrows anytime soon," responded Vanyel in the same tone.  
  
Stefen smiled down at Quatre. "Looks like you're our guest tonight. Don't worry; Windy is a very nice person. If you don't believe me look for yourself, you have the Gift of Empathy to see."  
  
Quatre was startled that anyone knew about is "gift", but did use it to look at the laughing woman. His Empathy showed a woman who was kind, protective of those she considered her family, and had a fierce temper to defend those she called her family. It also showed a Love that shined through her and directed everything that she did. May be Allah walked with this ghost woman that seemed so real. He flushed when she looked over at him with a knowing look.  
  
"How about I tell you how I ended up dead over dinner tonight. It's not gory, just sad. I hope that you will accept me now."  
  
"It's hard to know who to trust when sides are changing every day in war."   
  
Windy gave him a sad smile of understanding and nodded. She helped Quatre up and they walked with her two friends to a Way Station for the night. Windy had claimed that if she was expected to sleep in the wilds, then she was going to have some protection around her from the elements. Over their sparse dinner she told a sad story of a girl killed in a drunk driving accident. Even shielded as Windy was, some of her emotion bled over to Quatre. He went to sleep wondering how someone like her could change to be the woman that shared a meal with him that night.  
  
  
Quatre dreamed that night. He saw Duo and Trowa sitting by an empty Sandrock. Wufei stepped into the dream and they spoke quietly. Quatre heard something about Heero taking it harder then it looked, but Duo snorted. "He won't admit to being wrong and he especially won't admit to missing Quatre."  
  
Quatre wanted to say something to his friends. To reassure them that he was all right, but anything he said fell on deaf ears.  
  
"They can't hear you, Quatre. Not yet anyway. Be patient, you will meet with them again," whispered a voice.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked startled.  
  
"A friend of Windy's. Tell her the dream guardian said 'hi'." Then the voice was gone.  
  
  
Quatre woke up to smell oatmeal being boiled over a fire. Windy was stirring the pot in hopes on keeping it from burning while watching unleavened bread warming on hot rocks. She looked up at Quatre moving in his bed.  
  
"Morning. Sleep well?"  
  
"Yes. Uhh, I had a- never mind."  
  
"You had a dream. It was your friends, wasn't it?"  
  
Quatre's head shot up to look at the Christian ghost. "How-how did you know?"  
  
"It woke me up this morning. The beginning did anyway; the rest was lost when I woke up. You will see them again."  
  
"She said the same thing in my dream," Quatre said quietly.  
  
"She?"  
  
"A voice at the end of my dream. She said that I would meet them again." Quatre looked harder at Windy. "She said that she was a friend of yours and to tell you that the dream guardian said 'hi'. Who is the dream guardian?"  
  
"An old friend that is not human. She taught me how to dream walk when I first started out after my accident. She likes to keep in touch sometimes." Windy took their breakfast from the fire and served the Arabian. "Here, breakfast is ready."  
  
Quatre accepted the meal after feeling the start of his stomach growling. "Where are Vanyel and Stefen?" he asked.  
"They went back to guarding the Border. If it wasn't for them, Valdemar would have trouble with bandits on its Northern Border as well as the one next to Karse."  
  
"Bad?"  
  
"Let's just say that children in Karse are taught that the Heralds of Valdemar like to roast Karsite children and if they are bad, then the Heralds will get them."  
  
Quatre's eyes went round. "Would they really?"  
  
Windy snorted. "You met Vanyel, what do you think of him?"  
  
"He seems nice. He would seem like a good friend."  
  
"He is. When Vanyel was alive he was a Herald-Mage. He was the last one and after he died, everyone forgot about magic with some help. So, do you really think that a Herald will eat Karsite children for dinner?"  
  
Windy's smiling savvy was returned with a sheepish grin. "I guess not."  
  
"Well, I'm glad to hear that," said a teasing voice. Vanyel walked through the door grinning at the pair. "I would hate to have you think that I partake in the feast of Karsite children. The soldiers taste much better."  
  
Quatre looked a little startled at that comment until Windy threw a brush at the ghost of the famous Herald. "You shouldn't tell such tall tales, you'll get him all confused and then what will happen when he meets another Herald? That would be a mess."  
  
"She's got you there, love," Stefen said as he appeared next to his LifeBond. "Quatre doesn't know anything about us and here you are telling him that you eat Karsite soldiers for dinner. I'm sorry, I really have to apologize for his behavior." Stefen shot Vanyel a dark look. "I don't know what to do with him sometimes."  
  
"I know what you'll be doing when we leave though," said Windy with a wicked smile. Both ghosts managed to look embarrassed at Windy's comment, which brought out a laugh from the woman.  
  
"You have a dirty mind," accused Vanyel, laughing.  
  
"I was with two 'barbarian mercenary women'. What do you expect, manners of the nobly born? You're lucky my Mom taught me manners period."  
  
Quatre watched the exchange with puzzlement and a little fear. He couldn't help but fear a woman who said that she was a mercenary not too long ago and had helped over throw a government, even if it was corrupt. What was she going to do to him?  
  
"Take you with me to Haven. You may actually meet a kindred there," answered Windy to his unspoken question.  
  
"How did you know what I was thinking?" asked Quatre, started.  
  
"It wasn't hard. You were projecting and it was written all over your face." Windy turned to her long dead friends. "I really hate to eat and run, but we do need to leave. I want to get to Haven before the autumn festivals start crowding the gates."  
  
"The gods be with you, Windy," said Vanyel.  
  
"May they watch over you both," added Stefen.  
  
"May God be with you also," responded Windy. "Bright day to you."  
  
"And wind to thy wings," Vanyel said.  
  
Windy helped Quatre onto the Shin'a'in horse and then mounted her own. They left the Forest of Sorrows close to evening and stayed in an inn five miles from the edge. Quatre rode in silence most of the way and only questioned his companion when he wanted to know what was going on during their ride.  
  
"You're quiet," commented Windy over their dinner that night.  
  
"It's just strange being here. I've never imagined anything like this."  
  
"And you're disturbed by being with a mercenary," said Windy.  
  
Quatre blushed. "Is it that obvious?"  
  
"Not really, but I know what to look for. That and you were projecting."  
  
The Arabian bowed his head. "I do kind of find it disturbing. I mean I'm fighting for a purpose- to keep my family safe and not to know war. But what about you? What did you fight for?"  
  
Windy leaned back and looked straight at her dinner partner. "I fought to help two friends raise a murdered Clan. When we worked alone, we went with the jobs that had merit. When we joined a mercenary company, our Captain was a fair woman who took jobs to help and not attack the weak. Not many companies can say that they are that moral. We fought so that others didn't. When I spoke of overthrowing a corrupt government, I was talking about my Captain's two brothers. One was corrupt and worked for his gain. We passed judgment on him for the murder of his sister, our Captain. The other was put in his place as a just ruler, who would help put the country back together. None of us ever regretted that decision. That was the mercenary work I did."  
  
"Oh." Quatre looked down again and blushed in shame. "I'm sorry."  
  
Windy looked surprised. "Why should you be sorry? Anyone with half a brain would be suspicious of an unknown person helping them, unless-" Here Windy looked sly and grinned. "-They had a gift that told them the character of that person." Quatre grinned back and seemed to loosen up a little more. The night went smoother after that.  
  
  
"How long have we been on the road?" asked Quatre.  
  
"Hmmm. About three days, why?"  
  
"I was just wondering. How long until we reach this 'Haven'?"  
  
Windy smiled at her companion. "A couple more days. I think that is should be about another day or two. Depends on what traffic is like between here and there."  
  
  
They were lucky. The traffic wasn't too bad. The usual wagons going to the market to buy and sell along with pedestrians and riders on horses clogged the routes in. Windy lead the nervous Quatre through the whole mess and seemed to know right where she was going. She moved her horse through the crowd with ease and Quatre followed quickly behind her. The streets began to show more wealth as they continued further in and soon they were at the wall surrounding the palace. Windy stopped at the Guard station and spoke quietly with him. After a few minutes of conversation she dismounted and lead her horse through the gate. Quatre quickly followed her example and nervously looked at the Guard, expecting him to stop the Arabian from entering the palace grounds.  
  
"Welcome to the capitol of Valdemar, Quatre. Don't worry; I won't let anything happen to you. Come on, we're just in time for Court. I want to surprise Herald Roald." Windy stopped at the stables to drop off her horse and give instructions to the stable hands before leading Quatre to a place where they will be staying.  
  
"How do you know that you can use these rooms?" asked Quatre.  
  
"Because certain monarchs have been visited by me in the past and they always give me these rooms. I think that Queen Elspeth passed it on to her grandson, Herald Randal about keeping these rooms for me. Every time I had to turn up, they let me have them." Windy turned and winked at Quatre. "Or they just forget about them until I come around again."  
  
Quatre decided to try teasing his weeklong partner by asking, "Do you help them forget?"  
  
Windy put on an air of innocence. "Me? Do that? Perish the thought. I would never do that. But I know a few who might have, once upon a time." Windy's look of innocence faded into a sad look as she remembered friends fallen so long ago. "Come on, now that we're cleaned up, we have to get to Court to be presented to the King and Queen. Then we can tease Roald." Windy cackled at that cheery thought.  
  
In the throne room, Windy and Quatre waited patiently for their turn to be announced. When it came time, the announcer looked at the two strangely dressed people and called out, "The former SunHawk mercenary Windy and Lord Quatre."  
  
The word mercenary brought whispers from the assembled Court and brought to attention the two Heralds guarding the King and Queen. The king and queen looked interested and their son looked happy. Windy came forward with Quatre and bowed before the monarchs. "Greetings, your majesties. I came to see a friend and send him greetings from others."  
  
"And who would these others be, SunHawk?"  
  
"They would be Tarma shena Tale'sendrin, Kethry shena Tale'sendrin, Jadrek, and Warrl."  
  
"How are they doing, Mercenary Windy?" asked Herald Roald formally.  
  
"They are doing very well. They are at the Dhorisha Plains with the Liha'irden right now. I think that Tarma is waiting for you anytime now."  
  
"I will go see her when I have the chance. Thank you for bringing the greetings."  
  
Windy bowed and they were dismissed from the monarchs' presence. A few Heralds in the Court followed them out to see what the mercenary and her friend were up to; Windy just smiled and lead Quatre back to the stables to visit with her horse.  
  
"Is there a reason behind us presenting ourselves to the king and queen?" asked Quatre.  
  
"So that when their son disappears from his duties, they know who to blame. This also helps us with getting dinner. Either we eat with the Court or we eat at an inn. I like to see friends once in a while and it's easier to meet them at dinner with the Court. Don't worry, it's just like eating with your family."  
Quatre was going to comment on this, but stopped when they found just the Shin'a'in horse in its stall. From the one sided conversation Windy had with it Quatre assumed that it was happy with its arrangements. What worried him though was where was the black Arabian? Windy didn't seem too concerned, but Quatre feared for the precious horse. Wouldn't someone realize a prize when they saw him and try to take him?  
  
"Let's go see how my partner is doing, shall we?" asked Windy.  
  
"But he was in here when we left," said Quatre.  
  
Windy shrugged. "He likes to run with the Companions. They don't seem to mind his company. He's smart enough to get in and out as he pleases. No one has ever tried to stop him from doing what he pleases."  
  
Windy walked out of the stables and approached a large field. She stepped on the lower rail and swung a leg over so she was straddling the rail. She raised the fingers of her right hand to her lips and blew a shrill whistle. A fierce neigh trumpeted before the Arabian horse raced into sight. He didn't seem to have enough room to stop, but at the last minute he reared onto his hind legs and trumpeted once again to the skies. A couple of the Heralds who followed them watched impressed with the display and joined the three at the rails.  
  
"You were at Rethwellan at the coronation of the new king, weren't you?" asked one.  
  
Windy nodded. "That's right. I was with the SunHawks."  
  
"I was with Prince Roald when he came to witness the coronation. I heard some of the rumors that circulated about how the new king got his throne. Roald told us the story later. It was quite chilling."  
  
Windy grunted. "Try doing it. The king's brother was very cold blooded. I didn't like him and I'm sure the feeling was mutual. I think it was a good thing that we never met formally."  
  
The other Herald grunted. "From what I heard, it might have been. He liked pretty women and power. You seem to fit the bill on looks, but I think the power you hide would tempt him more."  
  
Windy raised an eyebrow to the Herald in a silent question.  
  
"My friend is a Thought Sensor. I'm Herald Trai. I can FarSee."  
  
I'm Herald Kallen. I'm not just a Thought Senser, but also a very small Empath. I caught some of the 'old' feelings and the burden that you carry with your responsibility. That's how I knew that you had power."  
  
"Yes, that would be most prominent after a long ride. This is my friend Quatre. Quatre-"  
  
Windy was going to introduce the blond Arabian to the Heralds, but he wasn't there. The three turned to look at a sight that surprised the Heralds and brought a smile to Windy's lips. Two Companions had come up to be with their Heralds, but a third had joined the group. She wasn't looking at the figures in white, but at the small boy in tan.  
  
Quatre had looked up at the feeling of being looked at and met the ever-so-blue eyes of an unattached Companion. He heard a voice ring in his head that said, "In all things, I Chose you. You will leave this world and I will follow. When you fight, I will join you, my Quatre." Quatre found acceptance and comfort. He found a friend that will always be with him through thick and thin. He found a soul partner.  
  
"She just Chose him, didn't she?" asked Herald Trai.  
  
Windy nodded. "That she did." She looked at the two and gave a slight smile. "I think you just lost a Companion."  
  
The two gave her puzzled looks. "Why?" asked Kallen.  
  
"Because when Quatre leaves, she will go with him. Quatre?"  
  
Quatre brought himself out of his dazed look. "Yes?"  
  
"What's her name?" Windy asked.  
  
"She said her name was Meri."  
  
Windy looked at the Companion. "Well, Meri, I hope you know what you got yourself into."  
  
:Of course I do. When you take Quatre back, I will go with him. I will learn of his world just as he will learn of mine. With his gift of Empathy, he will need all the help he can get. Unfortunately, Horse Lady, there is only so much that you can do for him. He will need the Heralds to help him control his Gift and to help him with decisions that he will have to make in his future:  
  
Windy acquiesced to the Companion and turned to the Heralds. "I hope that you got all that?"  
  
"Oh, yes. We better get Quatre settled into the classes he's going to have to take. Can you see to them being bonded better?"  
  
"I think I can handle that. May be the Weaponsmaster can use my help with his classes when I'm not busy."  
  
"All you can do is ask," said Kallen. They watched the newly Chosen Quatre get to know Meri better.  
  
  
Time flows differently between dimensions. For Quatre it was seven and a half years. To his friends it was seven and a half months. They still remembered their lost friend on a mission that ended as planned except for the loss of one. Heero had given his report to Lady Une and said that he wasn't happy with the result. Duo had been more outright with his complaint and threatened that if Quatre wasn't found, he was going to find him himself, even if he pulled the Earth apart to do it. Trowa and Wufei were silent, but the accusing looks convinced Lady Une to put them on the leave list for a while. That just made the remaining Gundam pilots more restless and agitated. A friend was missing and they wanted him back.  
  
It seemed strange to look at the Sandrock Gundam and wonder where in the world Quatre was. The Mangunacs still looked out for him on their missions and Quatre's sisters begged for his safe return. Seven and a half months with no signs, no traces, no word of Quatre or his possible capture wears on people. That was why when Duo and Trowa woke in a field of grass and trees, they thought that their depression had reached new heights.   
  
"So, where do you think we are?" asked Duo.  
  
Trowa shrugged. He was looking for a familiar landmark to say where on Earth or space they were. He didn't find anything except white horses watching them closely and Heero and Wufei approaching them quickly and carefully.  
  
"Heh looks like we're not the only ones who are depressed about Quatre. Here comes Heero and Wu-man," said the braided pilot.  
  
Wufei was close enough to hear Duo's comment. "How many times must I tell you; my name is WuFEI, not Wu-man."  
  
Trowa glanced at the bickering pilots then looked at Heero. "Do you know where we are?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You're in the Companion's Field in Havens, capitol of Valdemar," said a voice behind them. "I trust that you have business here?"  
  
Heero turned and tried to point his gun at the new stranger, but there was one problem. His gun was gone.  
  
Another stranger came up with a black horse trailing behind her. "Who are your friends, Kallen? Oh, I know them. Could you do me a favor, get Herald Quatre and Meri for me; I have to explain a few things to our new visitors."  
  
The elder Herald bowed to the mercenary and left the group to call his fellow Herald and the Companions. He trusted Windy in taking care of the four newcomers.  
  
Windy turned to the Gundam pilots and bowed with a smile on her face. "Welcome to Valdemar. I am Windy and this is my partner Black. My friend, Herald Kellen when to get Herald Quatre so that we may talk, but I would suggest that you hold all questions for later." Windy glanced at the scowling Heero and the distrustful looks of the other three. "Don't worry about your weapons, they will be returned to you when you go back to your dimension. Some of my comrades thought it best for you not to introduce firearms to a society that doesn't have gunpowder yet." Windy looked thoughtful for a moment and smiled at them. "I tend to agree, they will have enough on their plates in the future."  
  
Conversation was halted when a familiar figure approached the group. Even though he was wearing Heraldic Whites and had a Companion following close beside him, every member of the Gundam team knew Quatre. He hadn't changed much, but he seemed wiser and a bit more hardened. Heero wondered if Quatre was going to be just like him, a "Perfect Soldier", now instead of the rich man's child he was. He was proved wrong when Quatre raced forward to hug the whooping Duo and smiling Trowa. Wait a minute, smiling Trowa? Heero did a double take and noticed that even Wufei had loosened a little to briefly hug the blond pilot.  
  
:Greet him,: came a soft voice in his head.  
  
Heero glanced around and only the white horse and Windy met his eye. The look on Windy's face was one of happiness and when she noticed Heero looking at her, she shooed him toward the missing pilot. Heero thought that he saw a satisfied look in the horse's eyes but put it off as his imagination. Quatre bursting out in laughter brought his attention back to what was going on at hand.  
  
"Yes, Meri, I will introduce you to my friends... No, I don't know if or when we will be leaving. I think it depends on Lady Windy... Because I think she is the only way that we will be going back."  
  
The other four pilots looked at each other dubiously and wondered what was going on. Was Quatre crazy? Who was he talking to? Duo decided to step in. "Ahh, Quatre, who are you talking to?"  
  
Quatre blushed a little and smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't introduce you to Meri. Guys, this is Meri, my Companion. Meri, that is Duo, Trowa, Wufei, and the silent one in back is Heero... Yes, I noticed that he scowls a lot. You should watch Wufei sometimes."  
  
"Great," muttered Wufei. "He's been missing for almost eight months and now Quatre is talking to a horse. He's gone crazy."  
  
"Actually, that is how it goes around here," said Windy. "The Heralds will talk to thin air in appearance, but will really be holding a conversation with their companions."  
  
"You mean like Wuffie and Nataku?" asked Duo.  
  
Wufei was about to do great bodily harm to Duo for that comment when Meri charged in front of him. The look she gave was one of no fighting and Quatre echoed it. "She's right, Wufei, you really shouldn't fight. Please, be our guests tonight and tomorrow we will see what will happen. Allah knows that we will have to return sooner or later." He gave his Companion a gentle pat and led the way back to the Collegium and palace. Too bad he was going to lose his new rooms so soon he kind of liked them.  
  
  
Quatre was debating with Windy over what they should do for dinner arrangements when a classmate of his appeared at his door. "Hey, Quatre. How are you doing?"  
  
Quatre looked over and smiled. "Hey, Kayran. Got back from internship?"  
  
"Just. How did you do?"  
  
"Not too bad. Saw a couple of friends in Sorrows while I was with Herald Stev." Windy smiled while she watched the two year mates talk about their experiences and glanced over at Quatre's friends. They were surprised that the shy Arabian was talking so freely with a woman and not blush or stutter. Quatre had _changed_ over the past months.  
  
"It hasn't been months for him," she murmured quietly. "For the two of us, it has been seven and a half years. Quatre is now a full Herald here. Tonight all the citizens of Valdemar will swear loyalty and Quatre will be among them as a Herald. He knows this and is willing to do it before he leaves. Once he leaves, I don't know if he will return, but both he and Meri understand and accept this."  
  
"If he's so happy here, why should he come back with us?" asked Duo. "It seems that he found a place here."  
  
"I also found a place with you," said Quatre. "Sorry, Kayren left and I heard what you had said. They don't need me here; the Monarch's Own takes care of the Heralds that come with problems. But you need me. I can see it and I can Feel it. Meri and I will go back with you when the time comes."  
  
"So you say," said Heero, "but what if a war starts here. They may need you."  
  
Quatre shook his head. "They have been on the verge of war for generations. I learned of their history while I was here and Windy hinted of what will come. They don't need me; they will have enough people to fight. But you do. You and the Preventors need me; and I miss home.  
  
"Your family misses you, too," said Trowa. "The Mangunacs have been searching for you and your sisters keep asking for your safe return. Even Lady Une has the Preventors keeping a discreet eye out for you on their missions."  
  
"Hnnn. Do you know how many people have said that they have you and ask for ransom?" asked Wufei. "Every time we go to find out if it's true, they say that it was for the money or just a joke. They learn to laugh in jail for their 'joke'."  
  
Quatre bowed his head. "I'm sorry that you worried over me for so long, but I really didn't have much of a choice. It sort of happened."  
  
"What did happen?" asked Heero. "How did you disappear?"  
  
Quatre looked at his friends and saw the nod from windy. He Felt Meri give him the strength and support he needed and he started his tale. "When we were getting out of the area, I saw something coming our way. You guys realized that we were being followed, but there was something else, too. We were fired upon from the start and they knew that you had what they wanted, Heero. I took the shot, but something strange happened. It felt like I had been hit hard, but then it felt like I was falling. When I woke up I was in a forest with a boy bending over me. That was how I ended up in Valdemar. Windy must have known that I was here or something because as soon as I woke up, she was there with another person, ready to take me with her." He looked over at the silent woman with a questioning look.  
  
Windy laughed and started her part of the tale. "I knew that something wasn't right. I was leaving a friend of mine when I was told to take the horse she was offering and go to Sorrows Forest. I had a friend there that protected the area, so I figured on seeing him. Well, when I got there, Vanyel told me Stefen had found a boy that didn't look like he belonged to this place. I recognized him and laid my claim on knowing him quickly because if Quatre were decided to be an enemy, well, let's just say that you would be burying a corpse, if you found one. When I saw whom I was protecting, I was told what I had to do. And the rest, as they say, is history."  
  
"So you had nothing to do with Quatre disappearing, onna?" asked Wufei. Windy shook her head. "Why don't I believe you?"  
  
"Because you don't like Americans?" Windy asked while she batted her eyes. Then she took a more serious look. "I really don't care what you think. Quatre has been my Charge from the time I offered to take him with me. Someone dropped him here and I was sent to fix the problem, or help with the solution, whichever. You don't like it, tough."  
  
Duo laughed. "You'll get along great with Wu-man."  
  
Windy raised an eyebrow while Wufei yelled quite loudly about how his name was Wufei and cursing in Chinese. Windy turned her attention to Wufei and seemed to keep track of what he was saying. When he was done she asked, "How could Duo possibly do that when it is anatomically impossible unless there is more then one person to help?" Wufei turned a bright red and refused to answer. Windy shrugged and smiled. The other four pilots had stunned looks on their faces at the calm question asked by someone who probably shouldn't have known what Wufei had said. Windy turned her attention back to Quatre and said, "It's getting late. The ceremony will be starting soon and you have to get ready. I'll see about getting some clothes for your friends, but you have to wear the dress Whites."  
  
"What about you? You have to wear something fancy too," teased Quatre.  
  
"I have something that I can wear," said Windy as she escorted the four pilots out of Quatre's room. "Don't worry."  
  
"That's why I AM worried," laughed Quatre. He and Windy shared a chuckle before she led the Gundam pilots down the hall.  
  
  
It was just as Windy remembered it would be. She smiled at the similarities of the scene with what will come in the future. She stood with Quatre's guests in her formal dress and the pilots in clothes suited for the dimension and occasion. When it came time for the Heralds to speak their Vow, Windy mouthed the words and a tear came to her eye. How many will die in a war that was drawing so close?  
  
"Won't his pledge here cause him trouble if he returns with us?" asked Trowa quietly to the silent woman.  
  
She shook her head. "He knows that he must go back to help you. What will happen here will be out of his hands. He knows it, the king and queen know it, the Companions know it, and the Heraldic Circle knows it. But he pledges because they gave him a home and family for seven and a half years. They helped him and he helped them."  
  
After the last Vows were made, the ball commenced. The king and queen started the dance and soon others joined them on the floor. Bards took turns playing and dancing while the gentry, Guild members, and the three Circles danced. At one point Quatre had Windy out on the floor dancing to a lively jig, and then asked her to bring his friends out to join in the fun. After a while, Heero noticed that some of the people were missing, among them was Quatre.  
  
"Where is Quatre?" he asked.  
  
Windy looked around then smiled. "He went to join the other Heralds for their own celebration. Don't worry; you'll see him tomorrow, probably in the afternoon. We'll find out what will happen after that."  
  
  
True to Windy's word, Quatre was waiting for them at the Companion's Field around the afternoon.  
  
"Have a nice party last night?" teased Windy.  
  
Quatre blushed and nodded. "They missed you though. Roald thought that you should have been there."  
  
"My time will come. Until then, I babysat your friends."  
  
"Babysat?" protested Duo.  
  
"Yes, babysat. What would you call keeping four trained killers from killing each other and taking the surrounding area with them?"  
  
"Damage control," said Quatre. Meri came up and gave a suspicious sounding chuckle as she waited for decisions to be made. "Meri and I will go back with you, if you can find the way home, Windy."  
  
Windy looked at the acres large Field and nodded her head. "We will be leaving through the old temple in the middle of the Field. It has enough magic and memories to do what we need." She turned to Quatre. "Did you say good-bye?"  
  
Quatre smiled grimly and nodded sadly. He was going to miss all his friends here. He turned away from Haven and walked with the white clad woman to the middle of the field with the four other pilots following them and the Companion. At the crumbling temple Windy started a spell to join the two dimensions for a few minutes to let the travelers to pass through. The Gundam pilots went through first, then Meri. Quatre turned and looked at his home for almost the last eight months and sighed. He would miss this place. He passed through the gate and Windy followed, closing it behind her.  
  
  
Chaos. That was what Windy stepped into as she found what seemed like hundreds of people surround them with guns. Guns that was pointed at them. "What a way to run a railroad," muttered Windy.  
  
"What?" asked Quatre, lowering his hands.  
  
"Keep your hands up," barked a soldier.  
  
Windy shrugged and said, "Nothing."  
  
A disturbance caused the guns to shift a little and the arriving people startled her. Heero, Trowa, and Wufei saluted Lady Une while Duo gave a grin. But having Milliardo, Noin, Relena, Ilea, and Rashid following the Preventors leader was a little more surprising. Windy had to lay a hand on Meri to keep her from charging the two people getting so close to her Chosen.  
  
"Ilea, Rashid, I want you to meet a friend of mine," started Quatre.  
  
"Who are you talking about?" asked Ilea. "The woman? We know everyone else here except the horse. Where did you get it and those clothes, Quatre?"  
  
Meri stamped her forefoot and snorted. Windy rolled her eyes and looked at Quatre with an amused look on her face. "How are you going to answer that question?"  
  
Quatre looked down and started to turn red. "Ilea, Meri _is_ my friend. She's the one that I wanted to introduce. And this is Windy, she helped me while I was gone."  
  
"Master Quatre, who is Meri? And where did you get the horse?"  
  
Windy shook her head. "You really shouldn't interrupt a Herald while he or she is trying to speak. It's bad manners."  
  
"Herald?" asked Noin.  
  
"As in someone who announces people?" asked Relena.  
  
"No," negated Quatre. "A Herald is also someone who works for the monarch of Valdemar. I have been in Valdemar for seven and a half years, their time. I was Chosen to be a Herald during my time there. Meri is the one who Chose me. Ilea, the 'horse' is Meri, my Companion and friend."  
  
Ilea looked at her brother. "You have to be joking. That horse can't be your friend and you haven't been gone for seven and a half years. You've been gone only seven and a half months."  
  
Quatre sighed. "I was gone for those months here, but in Valdemar it was as many years. I was Chosen by Companion Meri, schooled in their principles and laws, and had an internship with another Herald. The night before we left I gave my vow to uphold the Herald's Creed. I am the Quatre you know, but I'm also different now."  
  
:I think Chosen that your sister is too stubborn, like you were in the beginning. It may take time, but I think that you can out stubborn her. The others will have to get used to it too:  
  
:I have faith in you, Quatre: added Windy. :Just do what I did. That should help move things along:  
  
The three laughed out loud at the memory of Windy helping to convince Quatre that he was now a Herald like it or not. The others wondered why Quatre and Windy were laughing.  
  
"What's so funny?" pouted Duo.  
  
"Something Windy said," wheezed out Quatre.  
  
"She didn't say anything," Milliardo said puzzled.  
  
"Not that you could hear. She just used a different way of talking to me," explained Quatre as he calmed down.  
  
Ilea had a sad look on her face. My brother is crazy, she thought sadly.  
  
Windy, Meri, and Quatre shifted their gazes upon her suddenly. The dark eyes of Windy bore into hers as she saw anger at the doubt that she was feeling. Sapphire eyes looked at the one who should love her brother no matter what and showed disgust. But the eyes that hurt the worst were the sad eyes of her brother. She saw his understanding and heard his reply to her unspoken thought. "If you really feel that way, then I will leave. I think that you and our sisters can run the company better without me. I'm sure I can find someplace to live without bringing the press down on the rest of our family."  
  
Lady Une surprised everyone by saying, "You can stay with us. If their laws are like ours then could you help us try to keep the peace?" She seemed to have accepted Quatre's new role in a lot of things.  
  
Quatre gave a last look at his sister and Maganac friend. "I would be delighted," he said.  
  
Lady Une smiled; Heero, Duo, Wufei, and Trowa frowned a little bit, uncertain; and Relena, Milliardo, and Noin gave uncertain looks and wondered if the blond Arabian would be able to handle such a task.  
  
"Well, at least the skills you learned as a Herald won't go to waste," remarked Windy.  
  
:Yes,: agreed Meri. :I think that the diplomacy and giving judgment will help immensely in this organization. They are almost like Heralds themselves.:  
  
"Yep, down to laying down their lives and dying to get the job done," said Windy. A few faces paled at what she had said and Ilea started to yell again.  
  
"Quatre will not be trying to kill himself, no matter what you say. He will be safe, even if we have to take him home with us."  
  
:Go ahead and try it,: said Meri.  
  
"Meri, don't, they're my family and Ilea is worried about me."  
  
:Worried enough to start sounding like your father.:  
  
:She does have a point, Quatre.: "That did sound like your father talking, especially when you had that discussion about you being a Gundam pilot."  
  
Rashid finally spoke. "Master Quatre, if you must do this, then at least let us help you. I can not stop you, but I do want you to be safe."  
  
:But being a Herald doesn't mean that he will be safe. Nothing is safe, not even on this world from what little I have seen. Quatre is my Chosen; you will know when he dies, when I die. If we are separated, then you will know when he is in trouble. That is the only assurance that I can give,: Meri Sent. Startled looks around the group told Quatre and Windy that everyone had heard Meri's statement.  
  
"I think that we should get you a place to live," said Lady Une, trying to break the heavy tension. "And someplace for your horse."  
  
"Companion," corrected Quatre and Windy absently.  
  
"Companion," agreed Lady Une. "And you, Miss..."  
  
"Just call me Windy. I will find a place don't worry. Quatre, I'm going to go pester my Shieldsister and return that cull. I'll see you in a couple of hours?"  
  
Quatre smiled. "Sure."  
  
The woman in white walked away from the group and between one step and another, she disappeared. Quatre looked at Lady Une and smiled at her.  
  
"When ever your ready, Meri and I can follow you."  
  
Lady Une nodded absently and led the Herald and Companion to their temporary quarters.  
  
  
It took a couple of months, but everyone got used to having Quatre back and Meri learned as much about this dimension as Quatre did with hers. The pair was having some time alone when Lady Une came with a worried look on her face.  
  
"Herald?" she asked tentatively.  
  
Quatre and Meri straightened up from their relaxed position at the frightened title.  
  
"What do you need, Lady Une?" asked Quatre.  
  
"I need your help. I have a mission, but I can't send in the other Gundam pilots. You haven't been seen for so long, people have forgotten that you were even one."  
  
"What type of mission did you have in mind?"  
  
"Unfortunately, it's a spy and possibly sabotage. I don't know if you'll be able to take Sandrock or Meri with you."  
  
:Go, Chosen. I will follow you as far as I can. If something happens, I can get help.:  
  
"Lady Une, I would be happy to help."  
  
"And what about Meri?"  
  
"She will come as far as she can then watch my back. Why don't you brief me and we'll get started."  
  
The three walked back to Lady Une's office to hear about Quatre's new mission.  
  
  
"Hey, Quatre! Want to go get dinner?" called Duo as he entered Quatre's rooms. The room was dark and neither Quatre nor his Companion was in the room. On his bed was the clothes Quatre was wearing earlier and the closet was open with a set of Heraldic Whites were missing. "Quatre? Where are you?"  
  
"Maxwell, hurry up," yelled Wufei.  
  
"Quatre's not here," called back Duo.  
  
"Where is he?" asked Trowa.  
  
"Not here," answered Duo. "And a set of his Whites are gone too."  
  
"May be he went on a mission," said Heero quietly.  
  
"And you would be right," said Lady Une. "I needed him to do something that you wouldn't be able to. Everyone knows you, but no one remembers Quatre."  
  
"So, you let him go on his own to some mission that he probably doesn't even know why he's doing it?" snapped Duo.  
  
"Actually, he asked a lot of questions and looked at all the maps we had of the area. Meri went with him, so he has some backup."  
  
"A horse and a boy that doesn't know what he's getting into," said Wufei. "This will be a disaster. Winner will be caught."  
  
"We will see," said Lady Une. "We just have to wait and see."  
  
  
Quatre frowned at the computer. He had what he needed, but from the surveillance cameras, there was guards coming to the area. :Meri, I've got company coming.:  
  
:Do you want me to come get you?:  
  
:No. Get help. I'll try to get out.:  
  
:Be careful Chosen.:  
  
:Always, love.:  
  
Quatre felt his Companion leave the area and he turned his attention to the guards coming toward him. "Now we'll see if what the Heralds taught me can save me." Quatre jumped up to the open-air vent in the ceiling. He pulled the cover back over and watched the guards ran into the room.  
  
"Search the room. Find the intruder."  
  
Quatre watched the guards comb the room. It was only time before they found him, he knew, but he had to give Meri time to get away. A guard came too close to his hiding place and at the wrong time the covering to the vent came off.  
  
"There! The intruder is hiding in there."  
  
Quatre was dragged out of the air vent by hands that didn't care if they were too rough. They didn't care that he had been the heir of a cooperation that had gone missing. All they cared about was a Preventor in strange white clothing was found in their control room with information erased from files and a virus running rampant throughout the whole system.  
  
"We'll get back our information from you and then some," cackled the head of the guards. They led the Herald-Preventor away to the detention room so they could "talk" to him about what he was doing in their facility.  
  
  
"I have a bad feeling about," announced Duo with a frown. The normally cheerful pilot was pacing about the room. Wufei also had a slight frown on his face. He watched the braided boy move around the room. Usually he would bound around the room, but this time it was muted, quiet.  
  
"For once, I agree with the braided idiot. There is something wrong," said the Chinese pilot.  
  
"And how would you know?" asked Heero. "It's not like any of us have special powers."  
  
"On the contrary, you are all connected to each other," said a female voice. "You would know if another was in trouble through that bond."  
  
"A bond?" asked Trowa. "What kind of bond?"  
  
"The type of soldiers and best of friends. The one where a mother knows her child is in danger. The kind that allows a lover to run to the aid of the beloved. That type of bond," answered Windy. "One has been formed within the five of you through Quatre when Heero self-destructed. Only now are you actually feeling it."  
  
Windy would have gone on, but her sharp ears heard the frantic hoof beats of a horse running at full gallop. She ran out the door with the four Gundam pilots running after her to see her stop in front of Meri.  
  
:Lady, Quatre is in trouble.:  
  
"What kind of trouble."  
  
:He was caught by that group that he was sent to spy on. They're trying to break him at this moment. I don't know if he will be able to hold on any more.:  
  
"Then we go after him," said Duo. "No one does that to my friend and gets away with it."  
  
"We aren't ordered to do anything," said Heero quietly.  
  
"Since when is that going to stop me?" asked Duo. "You guys can stay. I'm going."  
  
Windy nodded to Duo. "Meri and I will follow you. When we get to that base, you'll have to leave Deathscythe, but I think you can handle yourself on the ground."  
  
The three left the other pilots in the hall to get Duo's Gundam and move out on an unauthorized rescue mission.  
  
"She does have a point," muttered Wufei. "For a weak onna."  
  
"Then let's go help them before they get caught too," said Trowa quietly. "Are you coming Heero?"  
  
"..."  
  
A faint smile crossed Trowa's lips for a moment before it disappeared. "Thought so."  
  
The other three Gundam pilots followed in their friend's footsteps to get a missing comrade back. This time everyone was going to leave the mission together.  
  
  
Duo and Windy were waiting with Meri at the edge of the terrorist's territory. Windy was looking over the area they had to cross while Duo and Meri seemed to converse with each other. Trowa approached the group with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Trying to take Quatre's horse, Duo?" he teasingly asked.  
  
"Can't," was the short reply. "She's bonded totally to Quatre. When he dies, she will die too."  
  
"What if she dies before he does?" asked Wufei as the joined the silent woman looking at the terrain.  
  
"It will depend on him. He may live with a hole in his soul or he may join her. The pain of the bond breaking is enough to drive a person crazy," informed the woman. "I think I have a way of getting us in without being spotted." Windy glanced at the white Companion. "Meri, love, I hate to do this, but I need you to stay here until either Quatre or I call you."  
  
The Companion nodded her head. :I understand. Bring him back to me.:  
  
"Always." Windy started down the incline they were hiding on and crouched at the base in a field of bushes. The pilots followed her lead and moved slowly towards the terrorists building. Duo and Windy felt the bad feeling they had worsen. What were they going to find when they finally found Quatre?  
  
  
"Make it easy on yourself, boy. Tell us what you did."  
  
Quatre was getting tired. They had beaten him, put drugs in his system to make him talk, but all he did was muddy the waters for them. He silently thanked the Weaponsmaster that had taught him what to do when being tortured. "Tell fancy lies and stories so that when you break, and you will break, they can't tell the truth from the lies." (Quoted from Arrow's Fall, Mercedes Lackey) Quatre had done just that. He told them stories of writing to his girl friend and sending her the information he had erased. He said he had eaten it. He had sent it to his horse. Finally, when he broke he said that he had memorized everything.  
  
"Bah, he's useless. Even the drug didn't work that well on him."  
  
"May be we should try something else," offered another.  
  
"Like what? He has resisted everything we gave him."  
  
"May be he did tell us the truth," the leader quietly said.  
  
The captain of the guards looked at his employer. "What do you mean?"  
  
The leader pushed off the wall he had leaned against through the whole interrogation and walked over to the beaten Herald. "May be in all that he told us is the grain of truth. No one can resist the drugs that we gave him. Somewhere in the fantastic stories he told us the real situation. We just have to figure it out."  
  
"Shall we work him over to get him to talk?" asked a guard.  
  
The leader shook his head. "No. He is too out of it to even give us a straight answer."  
  
"Which is probably the best answer you gave all day," said a cold female voice.  
  
"The Great Shinigami has come for his friend and for revenge," called out another voice.  
  
"And to see that Justice is served," added a third.  
  
Two shots rang through the room and the guard and his captain fell to the floor dead. "Well, you got an introduction from the last two of our little company," said the woman. "Now you get to see me." Windy stepped into the light to face off against the leader of the terrorists. She wasn't dressed in her normal white attire, but in the Shin'a'in Swordsworn black. "You have attacked a friend. If I had come to find his dead body, then you would have been given over to his friends and the Preventors. You would have seen his Companion give her judgment before she went to be with her Chosen. And the last thing you would see would be me waiting for you on the other side to take you to your final Judgment."  
  
Duo and Trowa slipped out of the shadows to untie Quatre. Trowa slung him over his shoulder and Duo followed the silent boy back into the shadows. Heero and Wufei came forward to take charge of the terrorist leader. Windy moved to the ropes lying on the floor and picked them up.  
  
"Here, use these on him. I think that it will keep him from trying anything funny."  
  
"I could almost wish that he would," growled Heero.  
  
It was the look in Wufei's eyes that struck fear into the terrorist. They were dead looking and held accusation of any and all harm done to Quatre. If he died, then those eyes would hold him responsible.  
  
  
Meri joined the group when the left the building complex. She took one look at her Chosen and wanted to plant her hooves in the skull of the terrorist. Only a warning from Windy saying that there were more and they will be coming to stop them kept the Companion from fulfilling her wish. Duo asked the distraught Companion if she would carry him and Quatre to his Gundam when the bullets started to fly.  
  
:Of course. If you promise to get him to a Healer, then I would carry you to the ends of the Earth.:  
  
Windy and the other pilots started shooting back to give Duo and Meri cover. Windy glanced back only once when she heard the strangled cry from Duo before the trio finally got out of the guns' range. She signaled the other three to start inching back as Meri disappeared into the forest at the head of the incline they had only hours ago gathered on.  
  
"Will Duo be alright?" asked Heero.  
  
"I think so. I have a feeling that Sally or any of the doctors will let him have it when they see him and Quatre.  
  
Slowly, ever so slowly, the Gundam pilots withdrew further and further back. Windy gave them as much cover fire as she could, but you have only so much time to reload a gun and have only so much bullets to fire with. The pilots were just about to the incline when she spent her last bullet in her gun.  
  
Heero looked back at the woman standing in the middle of the field looking at the soldiers coming toward her. She felt his eyes on her and she looked at him over her shoulder. 'You have to get back,' her eyes said. 'Don't worry about me.'  
  
Trowa helped him over the edge of the incline and the last thing they saw of the woman who had helped their friend was a change in the color of her clothing and a slight smile on her face. A bright light prevented them from seeing more.  
  
  
Quatre groaned. Am I going to see Stefen looking at me again? he wondered as he tried to open his eyes.  
  
"Careful there buddy, you had a rough time on that mission."  
  
What is Duo doing in Valdemar? Quatre finally slit his eyes open to see he was in the Medical wing of the Preventors Headquarters. Duo was sitting on the bed next to him with a sling on his left arm. "What happened to you?"  
  
"What? This? I got it getting you from those crazies that wanted to use you for a punching bag," joked Duo.  
  
"Maxwell," growled Wufei as he entered the room after Sally Po.  
  
"What, Wuffie?" the braided pilot asked innocently.  
  
"Shut up. And my name is WuFEI."  
  
"If you two don't quiet down, you both will be called 'MUD'," came another voice. Windy walked into the room and stood by Quatre as Sally started to look him over. "How do you feel, Quatre?"  
  
"Like I did when I first went to Weapons practice," he groaned.  
  
"Well, what did you expect? The Weaponsmaster had to teach you how to fight well," laughed windy.  
  
Duo, Wufei, and Sally looked at each other. "Do we want to know?" asked Sally with a cocked eyebrow.  
  
"Not really," Quatre and Windy said in unison.  
  
"I'm just glad you're awake," said Duo. "Meri is getting anxious over you not waking up."  
  
"She talks to you?" Quatre asked, surprised.  
  
:Yes, and a fine one to talk to. I couldn't wait for you to awaken so I could have a decent conversation. The Lady Windy isn't always able for me to converse with.:  
  
"How are you able to talk to Duo?"  
  
"I'm not going to get used to this," grumbled Wufei as he watched Quatre talk to thin air. Sally looked a lot like him, but kept up her job.  
  
:He has a small Gift for it, but the others don't. May be if Trowa or Wufei had some talent for it, then I could speak to them, but Duo is the only one.:  
  
"Awww, poor baby," teased Duo. "Stuck with talking to only me and Quatre."  
  
The impression Quatre got was one of threat to the health of Duo if he came close to her in the immediate future. Windy perched on the other side of his bed from Sally and laughed silently. Meri was getting along well with Quatre's fellow pilots and friends.  
  
"When Sally gets done here, Lady Une wants to talk to you," said Wufei before he left. "She wants to know what you got from your mission."  
  
"Other then bruises," muttered Duo.  
  
Quatre nodded his head and waited for Sally to finish her exam before asking to leave the wing.  
  
  
"How are you feeling?" asked Lady Une as Quatre entered her office.  
  
"Much better, thank you."  
  
"I'm sorry that you were caught in your mission."  
  
Quatre shrugged. "It happens. I'm just glad that I didn't get the alternative."  
  
"And what is the alternative?" asked Lady Une as she sat behind her desk.  
  
"Not coming back alive." At Lady Une's sharp look he nodded. "Some of the Heralds that I learned from never came back from an assignment. Sometimes we never get a body back to bury."  
  
"Yet you said that you would do this. I'm impressed. What can you tell me about the terrorists?"  
  
"Lend me a computer and I can show you everything," said Quatre. At the requested computer, Quatre pulled a disk out of his boot and uploaded the basic format to the system. Then he started to put the details into the program and saved the whole program. "There you are, Lady Une. Everything you needed to know about these particular terrorists. I think they said something about having help from others though."  
  
"Thank you, Quatre. With this, we can at least cut down on the attacks that they may have started or planned on starting."  
  
Quatre saluted Lady Une before receiving permission to leave. Outside the door, Windy waited for him.  
  
"You did good on your first assignment," she congratulated.  
  
"I almost got killed. I did get captured."  
  
Windy gave a sharp bark of a laugh. "How many do you think even make it out of internship? You were meant for this job. You did well with this and I think that you will do well in others."  
  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Are you staying?"  
  
Windy shook her head. "Can't. I have others to watch."  
  
"Thanks for your help. With everything."  
  
"You're welcome. And Quatre, take the help when it's offered to you."  
  
Quatre smiled. "I'll remember that."  
  
Windy smiled back and walked down the corridor. Between one step and the next, she disappeared from the dimension.  
  
Quatre turned toward his room and slowly started to it. :Meri?:  
  
:Yes, Chosen?:  
  
:Do you have any regrets coming here?:  
  
:None. As long as I'm with you, I don't have any.:  
  
Quatre looked back toward the way Windy had started before leaving. :Neither do I.: 


End file.
